Resolved: “I Will Disciple Men in 2008 Because It’s the Right Thing To Do”

Written by Patrick Morley

Sunday, January 06 2008 19:00

Today’s Weekly Briefing is adapted from the book I’m currently writing, Pastoring Men, scheduled for release in January 2009 by Moody Publishers).

Much has been made about the “men problem.”

You can hear about it on Oprah. You can read about it in Time. You can watch the destruction it creates with Dr. Phil.

School teachers can barely educate for lack of it. Social services are overwhelmed because of it. Employers are stumped by it. Law enforcement feels the brunt of it. The penal system is full of it. Politicians don’t know what to do with it. Candidates avoid it.

Academics have assembled alarming statistics to prove it. Health care professionals make convincing reports to document the human cost of it. Cable shows rant at it. Talk radio has all the answers for it. Movies glamorize it. Television commercials mock it.

Divorce courts are at capacity because of it. Once promising families have been ripped apart by it. Women soak their pillows with tears as a result of it. Children grow up in poverty as a consequence of it. Teenagers experiment with drugs and sex to cope with it.

Everyone is concerned about it. Many address the consequences of it. A lot of money gets spent to treat the symptoms of it.

We open teenage pregnancy centers, establish substance abuse centers, increase budgets for social services, build homes for battered women, authorize more jail space, put extra beds in our homeless shelters, increase the number of law enforcement officers, and fit our schools with metal detectors to deal with it.

Yet very few people are doing anything that will change the root of it.

It is among the most pervasive social, economic, political, and spiritual problems of all time.

And we have the solution. It’s not easy. It’s not glamorous. It won’t win you awards. It’s hard to fund. Yet, as we begin 2008, can you think of any cause that has more potential to build Christ’s kingdom than discipling men?

Someone has well said, “Until you find a cause worth dying for, you will not have a cause worth living for.” Discipling men is such a cause. It’s the right thing to do. Let’s each prayerfully ask God to give us renewed passion, determination, and wisdom to disciple men as we begin 2008.